Alaklome
by modestfox
Summary: 2010. What'd happen if the LotR gang lasted until then? We'll have lots of fun, lots of action, and maybe a bit of smoochy lovey stuff. Now may I remind you all... Boromir died in LotR therefore he can't be in this story. He didn't survive long enough.
1. Shadow in the Dark

Alaklome::   
By: Stephanie P  
Most characters (c) JRR Tolkien  
  
Chapter One:: Shadow in the Dark  
  
"Cursed evolution," muttered the shadow, which crept through the streets of London's night. A tall girl with long coppery hair and ears with just a bit of point to them slipped from shadow to shadow, remaining silent, soft footed, and hidden. 'Vampires… they don't seem to realize that they're just a half breed of Nazgul and Orc.' She thought to herself. 'Yes… evolution'. The shadow watched as a group of Vampires passed her by. They hadn't noticed the shadow girl in the alley. She quietly, swiftly climbed a lamppost and was soon sitting on the lamp itself, perched, waiting. 'Darwin was right in thinking humans of today are the product of evolution, but not quite from what he thinks they were. Darwin wasn't around for the hard times of Middle Earth'. The girl in the shadows watched for her prey, the Vampires, to come within range. 'Hm. The Orc in them has evolved to drink blood rather than just eating the raw flesh of their prey. The Nazgul in them makes them spread their horrid disease to the point of infestation.' She leapt down from the lamppost and took off after the Vampires that had just passed by. She went silently and they never saw her coming. There were four of them. She took down all four with ease and then slipped back into the shadows as another pack of these creatures came running through.  
  
Indeed a lot had changed since the days of Middle Earth. Human blood had mixed with that of the various other races. Hobbits were hard to distinguish from the other races because they now had average sized feet and were quite a bit taller. Dwarves remained much the same, but their skills and abilities increased through time. They now became builders of all sorts. There love still lay with the working of metal. Wizards still traditional as ever, had found ways of using the new technologies of the world to enhance their wizardry. Elves, though believed to be non-existent, were really more abundant than one would think. They still lived immortal lives, and none new were born. Yet the ones that remained had adapted. Their ears were an average size and their point less noted. They were still quite tall, and thin. Elves were usually quite solitary. Orcs and the Uruk-Hai had interbred and, with the help of the infections of the Nazgul, created a new terror, the Vampires. Many races had died out. Ents, Trolls, Balrog, were no more. The world was a very different place indeed.  
  
The tall red headed shadow slipped into a warehouse. She went to a door in the back, opened the door and then went down a flight of stairs while making sure to close the door behind her. She slunk through the shadows towards a heavy metal door. She punched in the numeric password on a keypad attached to the wall by the door. The doors opened and the shadow went down another flight of stairs and was in a large room filled with computers and other various types of equipment.  
  
"Gawain!" I shouted from behind one of my computer terminals. "You finally decided to come back eh? Took you long enough. Where were you?" I asked. The red head looked at me with a smile "I ran into some trouble on the way home. How about you Penny?" she asked with a smile. I looked at her with very pleadingly. "Please don't call me Penny. It's Pennrod. Pennrodiel if we wish to be technical," said the blonde, "anyways lets not discuss this anymore. I'm tired. I've been up all night playing with the wires of this damned machine. Good night Gawain." With that I walked past my red headed friend and through a door. I closed the door behind leaving the red head in the large main room.   
  
"Hm… if Pennrod only knew how bad the nights really were," Gawain thought aloud, "then maybe she'd stop making a point of saying that before she went to bed at night… or morning rather." Gawain crept through a door at the other side of the room.  
  
Morning came the next day as silently as Gawain had entered her 'home'. The morning was bleak and gray when Gawain walked outside to take a walk as she often did on nights when she came home late. It was as if she were guarding the place. Not that it would come as a surprise. Lately there were Vampires on the rise.  
  
The year is now 2010. Gawain is quite old, though her face never does show her age. I'm not much different. The times of Middle Earth had come and gone and we had managed to survive where few elves had. Elves were few and far between in the end days of Middle Earth, but now they were even more so. Not only were we few, but also we had evolved and adapted to our changing world in ways that disguised our true race. Me running into a fellow elf was the biggest fluke of our lives. People like Gawain and me were rare, as there weren't many teams of elves running around. It was hard enough to find another elf, but to find one who you got along with like we do, that's as rare as they come I suppose.  
  
Gawain came back into the 'apartment' to see me sitting at another computer tampering with it. I did that often I suppose. "Hello Pennrod." She said quietly. "G'morning Gawain, how are you this mornin'?" I replied without looking up from my work. She hated it when I did stuff like that. She made a small, wary, uncertain smile. "What's wrong?" I asked. I had turned around just to catch the look. "There's a lot of trouble brewing out there this morning Pennrod. It scares me to be frank." Gawain said as she folded her arms across her chest. 


	2. Unlikely Travellers

Chapter Two:: Unlikely Travelers  
  
"How much farther have we got to go?" groaned a small male with curly brown hair. "It isn't much farther Merry now please stop you're whining," replied the tall gray haired driver of the van. Merry slouched back down in his seat and remained quiet. The small darker haired boy next to him poked Merry in the arm. "Gandalf said we're going to Disney world," Pippin said to his cousin with a childish grin. Merry looked at Pippin with disbelief. The naivety of that poor young Hobbit was frightful sometimes. "Uh… Pippin… we aren't…" Merry began before the hand of a blonde elf covering his mouth cut him off. "We've told him that to so as to put him in a good enough mood that he won't pester anybody with so many questions" Legolas whispered to Merry. Merry again slouched back in his seat and remained silent the rest of the trip, Pippin on the other hand wasn't quite so silent. "Disney world! Disney world! We're gonna go to Disney world!" Pippin said over and over in singsong voice as he bounced in his seat. At one point Pippin had become so excited that he was falling over the rest of the people in the middle of the van.  
  
As the van approached their destination Pippin looked out the window with wide eyes. "We're here," said Gandalf. Pippin eyes widened as he cried out, "This isn't Disney world! You guys all lied to me!" Pippin burrowed into his seat as far as he could and started to pout and sulk. "This is going to be a very long day," said a stocky man with dark red hair. Legolas elbowed him in the gut, which wasn't a very hard shot to take. "We can't go making comment like that Gim, it will just make the day longer," Legolas told his friend. A tall dark haired man stepped out of the passenger seat of the van. "Come on Legolas, you're going to help me get Pippin out of the van." He said. "Oh but Aragorn, what if we hurt him, then he'll just be miserable all day and you'll all expect me to baby-sit him," Legolas complained. Aragorn shot him a very angry look. Legolas went to help immediately after swallowing the lump in his throat. After much pulling and coaxing Legolas and Aragorn got Pippin out of the van. Finally two males stepped out of the back, one was thin and had a dark mess of curls atop his head and the other had more of a sandy blonde colored hair, but just as curly if not more than the other, and he had a more chunky build. "Frodo!" cried Pippin, "Why did they lie to me? They told me we were going to Disney world!" Pippin clutched on to the darker haired Hobbit's waist. "They told you that because we knew that we'd never get you back here without tricking you some how," said the sandy blonde haired hobbit. "Sam!" Gandalf scolded. "Now Pippin won't ever trust anything we tell him," Merry stated matter-of- factly.  
  
The group walked through the run down city they had arrived in until they reached a trashy inn near the center of the city. Gandalf knocked on the door in a special pattern as to tell the innkeeper he was a friend. The door open slowly and a head poked out cautiously. "It's me, Gandalf. I have brought my friends with me," Gandalf said quietly, almost in a whisper to the innkeeper. The door opened wide enough for one person to go in at a time. Once all were in, the innkeeper shut and bolted the door tightly. The innkeeper turned to Gandalf. "You know the price now pay up," the innkeeper told Gandalf as he held out his grubby hand waiting for Gandalf to pay up. Gandalf took the money out of his pocket and handed it over to the innkeeper. "Alright, third floor, fifth suite on the left. I ain't got housekeep so you better make sure you keep it clean."  
  
Once up in their suite the group gathered in the 'living room' of the suite. Pippin looked at everybody wide eyed. Merry sat back and smoked some pipe weed. Gimli went through his bag to make sure he had everything he was going to need. Legolas pranced around the room gaily, just like any elf would, for indeed Legolas was happy to be sleeping in a bed rather than the back of the van. Aragorn paced back and forth in front of the TV making it very hard for Sam to watch the golf tourney. Frodo was over by the kitchenette talking with Gandalf. Suddenly Gandalf walked to the center of the room. "Alright everyone, I know that all but Pippin were aware we were coming back here, but none but me, Frodo and Aragorn were aware as to why, so I am going to tell you," Gandalf said in his same commanding voice. "There has been a gathering of Vampires in the area. Nobody who has noticed can figure out why. Now this place has always been a sanctuary for those vile creatures but now it is more so than ever. I have consulted with Elrond and not even he can say for sure. I'm not sure even Saruman would be able to say if any were to know his whereabouts, track him, and ask him." Gandalf said looking at everybody one by one. Aragorn walked next to Gandalf. "Gandalf and I have traveled to the hiding place of Galadriel and Celeborn. Galadriel has told us the most horrific thing ever to cross her mirror in over a Millennium. Galadriel saw the re-forging of the ring of power." Aragorn told everybody. "What does that 'ave to do with us?" Gimli demanded. "It has everything to do with us!" Frodo exclaimed. "Galadriel held counsel with Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond and myself and we have all agreed that we should at the very least find out what is actually happening. If it is indeed the re-forging of the ring then we must be at hand to stop it." Frodo said to his companions. Pippin and Merry sat wide- eyed and mouths agape. Gimli's face went from slightly annoyed to a very horrified expression. Legolas ceased prancing about. The remote control dropped from Sam's hand. "Someone is… is… re-fo…fo… forging the ri…ri… ring? Mr Frodo?" Sam stuttered. "Now we aren't sure about that Sam… you remember what Galadriel tells you every time she lets you have a look. The events you see may have already happened, may be happening, or may happen in the future…" Frodo started before Sam cut in with "And some things may never come to be unless you go off your path to stop them." Sam hung his head, blushed a little at the thought of Galadriel and sighed. "Exactly right Samwise. That is why we are not going to interfere just yet, but merely watch and wait for a sign." Gandalf said, an air of caution in his voice, "Now we shan't stay here long. As trustworthy as this innkeeper has been in the past, we can't be sure he still is so. We are in this inn one night and one night only. Tomorrow we look for a place to set up base." 


	3. Dark Sanctuary

Chapter Three :: Dark Sanctuary  
  
Gandalf awoke to find that everybody else was still asleep. He woke Aragorn and Frodo and they discussed possible nearby locations where they may set up a base of sorts. Slowly as they talked the other members of the party started to wake up. Merry walked over quietly and sat with Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn. "What's going on?" he asked. Gandalf told him they were talking about important stuff and made him go away. Merry walked over to Pippin in a huff. "What's wrong Merry?" asked Pippin. "They won't let me listen to what they're talking about" Merry said grumpily.  
  
Soon the time came when the group had to check out of the inn and head off again. They packed up, piled into the van and left quickly. The sun was burning in the sky as they drove to the outskirts of town to find a place to set up shop. Not far from the town, towards the north western end was an old abandoned industrial area that consisted of an abandoned warehouse and two factories. "Perfect!" Gandalf shouted as he swerved the van towards the small industrial center.  
  
Once there the group took a good look at the buildings. One factory was falling apart, the other looked half decent and the warehouse looked semi new. Gandalf looked the buildings that were still holding together. "Lets take that one!" Gandalf declared pointing towards the one that was falling apart. Everybody looked at Gandalf and then headed off towards the warehouse. "I said that one, the factory, over there, where do you think you're going?" Gandalf shouted. "We're going to the building that isn't falling apart Gandalf my friend!" Gimli shouted back to him. Gandalf ran to catch up with the party as they all entered the abandoned warehouse. Pippin and Merry were first in. "Merry…" Pippin said, "I don't like the looks of this place, feels as if we're being watched by something".  
  
After a thorough examination Gandalf announced that they would begin to move into the Warehouse immediately. He gave everybody a job and made sure they stuck to it and did their job efficiently. However, Gandalf himself set up a lawn cheer and broke out a beer and relaxed while everybody worked to set up. By the end of the day they had all the equipment moved in and unpacked. How they carried all their equipment is unknown because all they had for travel was a dinky van. But anyways, they moved a lot of equipment into the warehouse and unpacked it all. Gandalf stood up and looked around at everybody. "Alright, that's enough for today. Lets get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us!" and with that Gandalf went off to find a place to lie down and sleep.  
  
That night, curled up in their own little corner, Pippin and Merry lay paranoid. "Something's here I can feel it Pip." Merry whispered. "I know, I felt it here when we walked in" Pippin replied. "I don't like this place very much Pip" "Neither do I Merry" and the two youngest fell asleep only to be abruptly awoken by two pairs of arms covering their mouths and whisking them off.  
  
The next morning Gandalf came to start waking everybody up. He first woke Sam and had Sam go prepare some food while Gandalf woke the rest. As Gandalf went to wake Legolas and Gimli he heard a shout from Sam. Sam burst into the room shouting repeatedly about how Merry and Pippin were gone, they had disappeared they weren't where they fell asleep, etc. "Oh I'm sure they aren't gone Sam, they probably woke up early and are off either playing some trick, or exploring." Legolas told Sam. But as the day bore on there was still no sign of Merry and Pippin. "Ya know, I think they really might be gone." said Frodo. "I TOLD YOU!" Sam exclaimed. "Oh calm down Samwise Gamgee!" Gandalf scolded. "Wherever they are, we should probably start looking for them as soon as possible." 


	4. Friendly Captors

Chapter Four :: Friendly Captors  
  
Pippin and Merry were thrown onto the floor of a large room filled with wires and computers and various other machines. They looked up to see two very tall ladies standing over them. Pippin was the first to get up. "Now exactly what was that about eh?" Pippin asked pushing one of the women. The woman hardly moved with the tiny push of the small hobbit. Merry took a good look at his captors. There was a very tall red head and a smaller blonde. Both were Elven. Merry was shocked to see not just one but two elves seeing as how rare a race they are now. I mean they were rare then but now they don't even have common areas. To see two together was really something for Merry.   
  
The blonde that pippin had pushed laughed and plopped down onto a chair. "Hobbits always were such an amusing race!" she exclaimed through her laughter as she spun around to face the computer that was next to the chair. The red head looked at the both of them. She grinned at them, her grin almost evil. "Now, you'll tell me what you're doing here and where your friends are. When I find you're friends you will all be held in that there cell" she said pointing to a corner. "We don't take kindly to intruders in this place." With that the red head walked away and left the Hobbits to the care of the blonde who had just wheeled her chair over toward them. "Don't worry about that one," she told them. "Gawain is a bit cold but you'll get used to her. You're going to be here a while. Oh and I'm Pennrod," the blonde stated holding her hand out to them. Merry and Pippin looked at Pennrod wide eyed.   
  
Pippin was first to get up. "I'm Pippin… pleased to meet you I suppose?" Pippin said as he shook Pennrod's hand. Merry stayed seated. "I'm Merry but that doesn't matter to you. I'm just your captive." He said haughtily. Pennrod laughed. "No! Don't consider yourselves captives. Gawain is just taking precautions for her own safety. Trust me, it's much safer down here. Vampires check these warehouses often." Pennrod looked at her computer screen for a moment. "We should find your friends before they get caught." She said getting up from her chair. "Come on." Pennrod led both the Hobbits to the elevator and they walked out into the warehouse. "Now, you find your friends, lead them here, and I'll tell Gawain I'm baiting a trap for your friends. She'll buy that." And with that Pennrod disappeared into the elevator so she could relax at her computer.  
  
Pippin and Merry looked at each other. "Do we trust her?" asked Merry. "Since when have we not trusted Elves?" said Pippin. "Quite true. Quite true indeed." Merry replied as they walked off to warn their friends and to inform them of the friendly captors downstairs.  
  
Once downstairs Pennrod found Gawain waiting for her 'Uh oh…' Pennrod thought to herself. "Um… I know what this may look like… but I assure you they got away all by themselves and I didn't help! Actually no… even better… I'm using them to bait the trap to get the others yeah! That's right… that's what I had planned to say and oh… crap." Pennrod ranted in attempt to save herself from the angry flailing she would soon receive from Gawain. Gawain just glared at her. "YOU IDIOT!" Gawain shouted. "Did you honestly think I would buy all the blubbering? Go find them right now! I can't have them running about knowing where our base is! What if they go to the vampires! I DON'T KNOW HOW I CAN STAND TO LIVE WITH YOU!!!!!" Gawain said as she pushed Pennrod into the elevator to go after the two Hobbits.  
  
After arriving at warehouse level the elevator doors opened and Pennrod reluctantly stepped out. "Now… if I were a Hobbit where would I be?" Pennrod asked herself aloud. "I'd probably be in Ireland where there are plenty of rolling green hills to make Hobbit holes in but right now that isn't an option for the poor things." Pennrod muttered under her breath. She wandered around the empty area of the warehouse looking for them. She heard voices around her but didn't take notice to them and dismissed them as crazy voices in her head. "Come out, come out wherever you are little Hobbits… if I don't bring you back to the big mean nasty red head she's going to murder me…" Pennrod called out trying to be coaxing but not quite achieving the proper results. Suddenly two long, thin arms grabbed around her mouth and two thick shorter arms grabbed around her waist as she was pulled into the shadows. 


End file.
